The Oklahoma State Department of Health today joined with the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals and the Oklahoma Turning Point Council to announce that 29 businesses in the state have been selected to receive awards as part of the 2004 Oklahoma Certified Healthy Business Program.

The Oklahoma Certified Healthy Business Program is a joint venture of the three groups to encourage Oklahoma businesses to provide health promotion and wellness activities and incentives for their employees. To be certified, businesses must meet specific criteria, including providing employee health screenings, workplace health education, opportunities for physical exercise activities, management support for healthy workplace environments, and sharing wellness activities within their respective communities. The program was initiated in 2003 and thus far, nearly 130 businesses have been certified, including about 100 this year.

Of those businesses certified this year, 29 met the Certified Healthy Business Program’s criteria for awards of excellence or merit, based on the size of their business and the number of wellness/health promotion activities that their business was involved in. Today’s awards announcement was made at the Seventh Annual Oklahoma Turning Point Council Forum held at Reed Conference Center in Midwest City. Oklahoma’s Turning Point Council, created in 1998, is acknowledged as a national model in pooling together the efforts of organizations, communities and consumers to maintain and improve the health of Oklahoma’s citizens.

Other stakeholders in the Certified Healthy Business Program include the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce, McDonald’s, BF Goodrich, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Oklahoma, New York Life, INTEGRIS Health, City of Ardmore, Oklahoma State University, Team Insurance, Kwikset, First Bank, and Southwestern Bell.

The 2004 Oklahoma Certified Healthy Business Awards follow:

Awards of Excellence:Large, Not for profit: Rose State College
Medium, Not for profit: Simmons Center Foundation, Inc.
Small, Not for profit: Kiowa County Health Department
McIntosh County Health Department